The new KGB: how Andropov's agents watch the home front and the world

Four hours after the funeral of Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev last November, an incident that would have seemed improbable in the most contrived spy thriller unfolded in the Green Room of the Kremlin. As leader of the American delegation attending the Brezhnev burial, Vice President George Bush had been invited for a private chat with the new Communist Party chief, Yuri Andropov. The atmosphere was stiffly formal. Bush, who had been director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1976 to 1977, tried to break the ice with a bit of humor. Said the Vice President: "I feel I already know you,...